"By starting with Roger Lowenstein’s biography, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, and then reading The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom you’ll be introduced to both the man and his method."

"To hear it straight from the horse’s mouth pick up a copy of The Essays of Warren Buffett edited by Lawrence A. Cunningham. These are actually extracts from Buffett’s annual letters to his partners and shareholders, organized by topic. "

"Andrew Kilpatrick’s Of Permanent Value is a wonderful compilation of stories and anecdotes about Buffett’s experience, his investments, his hobbies and his outlook on life (plus hundreds of pithy Buffett quips and quotes)."

"Reading Buffettology (by Mary Buffett and David Clark) will help you get a handle on Buffett’s investment system. But be warned: the authors oversimplify and attempt to provide a formula that encapsulates Buffett’s stock-picking ability. Oversimplification is a helpful way to start learning something. So if you read this book, remember to graduate beyond its formulaic approach before putting your money on the line."

"A more obscure book that I can highly recommend is You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt. The title still turns me off — but the book is well worth reading. It’s a wonderful reinforcement of the importance of specializing in your own investment niche."

"John Train has several books profiling the methods of successful investors: The Midas Touch, The Money Masters, The New Money Masters and Money Masters of Our Time. This is a great way of being introduced to a variety of different approaches, one or more of which you may want to study further."

"In Market Wizards and New Market Wizards, Jack Schwager has done a sterling service by finding and interviewing some of the greatest traders of our generation. Traders talk far more about their systems, methodology and thought processes than most investors do. As a result, even if the last thing you want to do is buy a futures contract, you’ll find these two books of interviews a valuable source of proven ideas for building and testing your own investment system."

"For other views on investing from people not directly involved in the industry (including academics) some of the better choices include A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel and Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller."

"The best introduction is Robert Slater’s bio-graphy, Soros: the Life and Times of the World’s Greatest Investor. Slater emphasizes Soros’s investment methods and achievements, and it’s a great way to gain familiarity with his approach."

"A more recent biography, Soros, the Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michael Kaufman, was written with full access to Soros and his papers. So it is a far deeper portrait of Soros, the man. And, as you’d expect, there’s a lot in Kaufman’s book that you won’t find in Slater’s. Kaufman also had greater access to Soros’s Open Society Foundations, so there’s more information on his charitable activities."

"To really understand Soros’s investment methods, it’s essential to read his own writings. I suggest you start with Soros on Soros, which, given its interview format, is easier to digest than his book The Alchemy of Finance, which can be rough going at times — though definitely worth the effort."

"Robert Slater also published a brief volume of what he perceived to be Soros’s 24 trading secrets, Invest First Investigate Later. Though an excellent summary, much of the material is simply drawn from his biography of Soros."

Mark Tier is an Australian writer and businessman who lives in Hong Kong “partly because paying taxes is against my religion.”

Founder of the investment newsletter World Money Analyst, which he published and edited until 1991, he is also the author of Understanding Inflation, which became a bestseller in Australia in 1974, and The Nature of Market Cycles.

His recent work is The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros

"By starting with Roger Lowenstein’s biography, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, and then reading The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom you’ll be introduced to both the man and his method."

"To hear it straight from the horse’s mouth pick up a copy of The Essays of Warren Buffett edited by Lawrence A. Cunningham. These are actually extracts from Buffett’s annual letters to his partners and shareholders, organized by topic. "

"Andrew Kilpatrick’s Of Permanent Value is a wonderful compilation of stories and anecdotes about Buffett’s experience, his investments, his hobbies and his outlook on life (plus hundreds of pithy Buffett quips and quotes)."

"Reading Buffettology (by Mary Buffett and David Clark) will help you get a handle on Buffett’s investment system. But be warned: the authors oversimplify and attempt to provide a formula that encapsulates Buffett’s stock-picking ability. Oversimplification is a helpful way to start learning something. So if you read this book, remember to graduate beyond its formulaic approach before putting your money on the line."

"A more obscure book that I can highly recommend is You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt. The title still turns me off — but the book is well worth reading. It’s a wonderful reinforcement of the importance of specializing in your own investment niche."

"John Train has several books profiling the methods of successful investors: The Midas Touch, The Money Masters, The New Money Masters and Money Masters of Our Time. This is a great way of being introduced to a variety of different approaches, one or more of which you may want to study further."

"In Market Wizards and New Market Wizards, Jack Schwager has done a sterling service by finding and interviewing some of the greatest traders of our generation. Traders talk far more about their systems, methodology and thought processes than most investors do. As a result, even if the last thing you want to do is buy a futures contract, you’ll find these two books of interviews a valuable source of proven ideas for building and testing your own investment system."

"For other views on investing from people not directly involved in the industry (including academics) some of the better choices include A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel, Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel and Irrational Exuberance by Robert Shiller."

"The best introduction is Robert Slater’s bio-graphy, Soros: the Life and Times of the World’s Greatest Investor. Slater emphasizes Soros’s investment methods and achievements, and it’s a great way to gain familiarity with his approach."

"A more recent biography, Soros, the Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire by Michael Kaufman, was written with full access to Soros and his papers. So it is a far deeper portrait of Soros, the man. And, as you’d expect, there’s a lot in Kaufman’s book that you won’t find in Slater’s. Kaufman also had greater access to Soros’s Open Society Foundations, so there’s more information on his charitable activities."

"To really understand Soros’s investment methods, it’s essential to read his own writings. I suggest you start with Soros on Soros, which, given its interview format, is easier to digest than his book The Alchemy of Finance, which can be rough going at times — though definitely worth the effort."

"Robert Slater also published a brief volume of what he perceived to be Soros’s 24 trading secrets, Invest First Investigate Later. Though an excellent summary, much of the material is simply drawn from his biography of Soros."

Mark Tier is an Australian writer and businessman who lives in Hong Kong “partly because paying taxes is against my religion.”

Founder of the investment newsletter World Money Analyst, which he published and edited until 1991, he is also the author of Understanding Inflation, which became a bestseller in Australia in 1974, and The Nature of Market Cycles.

His recent work is The Winning Investment Habits of Warren Buffett & George Soros